I have often argued that we do not celebrate ourselves enough.
An irony, writers are usually too busy writing, that they often forget, neglect or refuse to tell their own stories the way they ought to.
The public intellectuals are often so busy antagonising one another, tearing at each other in pretence at intellectualising that they forget, neglect, or refuse to acknowledge and celebrate themselves, where necessary.
As we do not do enough to acknowledge our place and contributions, large chunks of history gets yanked off, in part by forgetfulness, revisionism, and generations that come after struggle to tell today apart from yesterday, not knowing who did what then, not understanding the intersection between yesterday and the tomorrow they yearn for.
There is no way to situate what might be referred to as new-age public intellectualism, which has blossomed on the back of the new media in the last few decades, without tracking it back to Rutam House of the 80s and 90s.
In that house was the foundation for what we have witnessed in the last few decades laid, even if the fire of public intellectualism does seem to be waning today. The Guardian was the premium platform of that era. Every edition of the newspaper was encyclopedic, with lengthy features, stories and interviews from different beats.
What further stood the paper out was its op-ed page. The paper had a roster of intellectuals who made everyday and every edition one to look forward to.
It also happened that most of these intellectuals who midwifed a more robust engagement between town and gown were Creative Writers. The debates within the Arts community would spill on the pages of Guardian. There were a lot of those controversial debates. The op-ed pages were just as vibrant and controversial as the Arts pages.
Through The Guardian, we encountered on regular basis, Kole Omotoso, Chinweizu, Odia Ofeimun, Biodun Jeyifo, Yemi Ogunbiyi, Stanley Macebuh, Edwin Madunagu, Femi Osofisan, Ken Saro-Wiwa, Niyi Osundare and others. It was unprecedented for a newspaper to dedicate as many pages to the Arts as The Guardian did, and did well too. Quality stories filled these pages, week after week. Sometimes, the controversial debates would even necessitate the creation of extra pages. Reading ‘The Guardian’ was like studying a textbook.
At the heart of all that great work, for many years, was Jahman Oladejo Anikulapo. I remember that the Arts Desk was initially led by Uncle Ben Tomoloju ( Ben-T), with Jahman assisting. When Ben-T left in 1992, Jahman took over as the Arts Editor. He threw himself completely to the huge task, delivering an excellent and exceptional package week after week for 10 years, before stepping up as Editor of Guardian on Sunday on which he again made his distinctive mark, serving again for 10 years, then electing to step aside from the organisation he diligently served for 26 years service.
One of the defining institutions of the late 80s and early 90s, for young writers, was the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA). At the time, most of the big name Writers were in the country. The Annual ANA Conference brought together not only established writers, emerging writers then, who have since become renowned ‘found their way’ there, establishing useful and what has now become life-long relationships with the Elders and among themselves.
It was at one of those conferences that I first met Jahman. Of course, I had been reading him on the pages of The Guardian. It was the 1992 ANA Conference in Abeokuta. We were placed in the same hotel. For reasons I cannot recall now, we got there late at night. Too late to get something to eat. Jahman would then suggest that we go somewhere in town to eat and we ended up at one buka where we had amala.
So, I have known Jahman for all of 30 years, at the least. In these years, I have never seen anyone as selflessly devoted to the promotion of Arts and Culture like Jahman. He describes himself as a Culture Advocate, Curator and Communicator. That perhaps captures just one essence of him. He is much more than this Writer and Actor.
I will simply describe him as a fantastic human being. One in whom I cannot find a single bone of selfishness. He is always about the cause, about others. It is always about one project or the other. No thought for what accrues to him from the relentless devotion to these causes in culture advocacy.
Even as he is swarmed with work, with his vision bigger than resources, he always manages to remain calm and assured, confident that he will yet pull through. He is unbelievably humble. Few will hold the position of Editor of Guardian on Sunday and not let the prestige and influence that come with it get into their heads, leaving the office, different from who they were when they went in. Not Jahman.
I have complained about us not doing enough to celebrate ourselves. It is gladdening seeing more people taking that up. Glad to see many come out to celebrate Jahman today. It was really nice to see some of our friends who usually don’t do that writing tributes in honour of Jahman. Fitting. The man does deserve all the accolades that have come his way today. He is a great man, a gentleman deserving of the honour.
Happy Birthday, Jahman.